Election Day 2024: Nebraska voters pass medical cannabis by 71%, while Florida’s Amendment 3 wins 55.9% but misses the 60% supermajority

On November 5, 2024, voters in four states weighed in on five statewide cannabis ballot measures, producing a sweeping medical cannabis victory in Nebraska while three recreational initiatives fell short.

Nebraska approves medical cannabis in a 71% landslide

After court challenges had blocked an earlier petition from the 2020 ballot and organizers overcame a last-minute trial over petition notarizations in late 2024, Nebraska voters approved both companion medical cannabis initiatives by more than two-to-one:

• Nebraska Initiative 437 (Medical Cannabis Patient Protection Act): Passed with 71.05% Yes (653,067 votes) to 28.95% No (266,087 votes), allowing patients with a written recommendation from a healthcare practitioner to legally possess up to 5 ounces of medical cannabis.
• Nebraska Initiative 438 (Medical Cannabis Regulation Act): Passed with 67.15% Yes (615,244 votes) to 32.85% No (300,982 votes), establishing the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to license and regulate registered cannabis providers.

Florida’s Amendment 3 wins a 55.90% majority—but fails under the 60% rule

In the most expensive cannabis ballot campaign in U.S. history, 6,017,058 Florida voters (55.90%) voted Yes on Amendment 3 to legalize adult-use possession of up to 3 ounces, compared to 4,746,563 No votes (44.10%). Although 55.90% was a wider majority than the votes that legalized cannabis in Colorado (55.3%), Washington (55.7%), Massachusetts (53.7%), Nevada (54.5%), Maine (50.3%), Michigan (55.9%), or Missouri (53.1%), Florida’s constitution requires a 60% supermajority to pass any constitutional amendment—leaving Amendment 3 just 4.1 percentage points short.

North Dakota and South Dakota reject third-try recreational measures

In the Dakotas, voters also turned down statutory adult-use measures for the third election cycle in a row: North Dakota Measure 5 failed with 47.46% Yes to 52.54% No, and South Dakota Initiated Measure 29 failed with 44.36% Yes to 55.64% No. Meanwhile, in Texas, Dallas voters approved Proposition R (the Dallas Freedom Act) with 67% Yes to deprioritize misdemeanor arrests for up to 4 ounces of cannabis.

Photo: Adobe Stock. Contextual stock: Florida Historic Capitol with the modern capitol tower behind, February 1, 2018; illustrates Florida only, not Nebraska or the 2024 election.